I have bought a new laptop/netbook, a Lenovo X201. My initial reactions are positive. It runs Debian better than my old Dell laptop does (see my Debian on Dell Precision M65 writeup). The rest of this article will be devoted to notes and information about running a GNU/Linux system on the Lenovo X201.
First the hardware configuration and quick status summary of how well each piece is working:

CPU

Intel Core i7 620M 2.67GHz

OK

RAM

Samsung 4GB RAM DDR3 1333 MHz PC3-10600

OK

BIOS

Lenovo v1.22 dated 2010-08-23

OK

Disk

Seagate Momentus 320GB ST9320423AS

OK

Graphics

Intel GMA HD integrated

OK

Screen (internal)

1200×800 12.1″ WXGA TFT

OK

Screen (external)

DisplayPort support for at least 1920×1200

OK

Webcam

Lenovo/Chicony Camera

OK

Mouse

UltraNav TrackPoint/TouchPad

OK

Ethernet

Intel PRO/1000 (e1000) 82577LM

OK

CD/DVD burner

Matshita DVD-RAM (in Lenovo X200 UltraBase)

OK

Card reader

Generic USB2.0-CRW ID 0bda:0159

OK

Bluetooth

Broadcom USB ID 0a5c:217f

OK

Fingerprint

Upek USB ID 147e:2016

?

Modem

?

?

Audio

Intel 5 Series/3400 HD-Audio

FAIL

Wireless

Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300

FAIL

3G

Qualcomm Gobi 2000

FAIL

GPS

Qualcomm Gobi 2000

FAIL

I’m also using a Omnikey 4321 ExpressCard smart card reader, but it was not included in the laptop.

For reference, this laptop was labeled “3323″ and “NUSRCMS” from the reseller. It included the UltraBase X200 as a combo.

Installation

The installation was unexciting except for software bugs that were easy to work around and that I expect will be resolved eventually. For more information, see my installation report. It also contains “lsusb” and “lspci” output if you are curious about hardware details.

The Intel graphics is working fine, both the internal TFT and the external DisplayPort. I’m driving my Dell 2405FPW (DVI) to 1920×1200 without issues. Cycling through monitors with Fn-F7 works out of the box.

Wired ethernet via X200 UltraBase works. The UltraBase do not appear to contain another ethernet card, it is just another ethernet socket for the internal ethernet port.

I have tested bluetooth for file browsing and connecting to the Internet via my Nokia N900.

The card reader handled a SD card fine, haven’t tested other formats.

The ExpressCard54 slot handles my OmniKey 4321 smart card reader without issues, together with pcscd and GnuPG. However, the mecanical button used to eject cards is poorly made and does not handle the force required to eject the card.

Suspend to RAM+Disk is working fine, and the special keys Fn+F4 to suspend works.

I’m able to hotplug connect to the UltraBase docking station.

Fingerprint reader is not yet tested.

Audio does not work

Not working out of the box. I’ll update this section when I know how to fix it.

Wireless does not work

The built-in Intel Centrino 6300 does not work without non-free software installed.

Workaround: I downloaded the 9.221.4.1 firmware from Intel Linux Wireless and unpacked it into /lib/firmware. An older version of the firmware is available from the firmware-iwlwifi Debian package in non-free. With this installed, it is working reliable and handles suspend fine.

Gobi 2000 3G/GPS does not work

It appears to require non-free drivers. It works under Ubuntu 10.10 so it should be possible to get it to work under Debian as well. I’ll add more details here later once I figure things out.